Ray Flynn: UN Has No Respect for Catholicism

In light of a recent statement by the United Nations that the Vatican's position against abortion is essentially "psychological torture," former Boston mayor and ambassador to the Holy See Raymond Flynn says the U.N. has no respect for the Catholic faith.

Flynn says he saw the lack of respect on display while serving as ambassador during former President Bill Clinton's first term, and he traveled to the U.N. with the late Pope John Paul II, now St. John Paul II.

"I couldn't believe my eyes, the disrespect that they had for the Catholic faith, for Christians in general, and here's the voice of arguably one of the most moral if not the most moral voice in the world," he told J.D. Hayworth and John Bachman on "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV.

"These people were very casual about what [the Pope] was saying, and this was right before the Cairo conference, the United Nations Cairo conference and Beijing conference, and the disregard for the people of faith, it's amazing to me," he said Monday.

Flynn said the lack of moral clarity in the U.N. makes him question why it even exists.

"Now we're seeing the United Nations, an institution established, funded, by many dollars of the American people, and going off in this radical direction that really doesn't serve the common good at all," Flynn explained.

"I'll go out on a limb right now and say this, I don't even know why you need the United Nations anymore. They've outlived their usefulness, they've become ineffective, and it's time to move on," he added.

Flynn argues that one of the purposes of the Catholic faith is to help "people who need help," and that was what Pope Francis was talking about when he said governments should redistribute the wealth to the poor.

"I don't think it's some kind of a policy, a socialist policy of you tap into everybody's resources and they're assessed a certain amount of money that they have to give to a certain cause," he said. "I didn't see that at all with Francis' comments. It's more about equity and it's about helping those who can't help themselves."